Refrigerator



June 21, 1932. w. c. MARSHALL f REFRIGERATOR Filed Sept. l0, 1930 Mw 4W /W iff InlfenTETI-,

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f v OPN@ rammed June 21, 1932 y WALTER C. MARSHALL, 0F MILWAUXEIIW'ISCONSIN nnrnmnm'ron.

Application led September 10, 1930. Serial No. 480,979.

My invention relates more especially to mechanical refrigerators fand particularly to refrigerators wherein air circulation practically about all sides of the respective food 5 holding compartments is effected as for example disclosed in United States Letters Patent' No. 1,727,713.

The object of my invention is to provide a refrigerator having a food holding compartl0 ment or compartments about which the cold air will pass or circulate on. all four sides without permitting the cold air to pass across or in actual contact wit-h the food, with the re- ,sult that the food will hold or retain its origi- 15 nal moisture, while at the same time maintaining the food at a proper temperature. v

The objects and advantages of my invention will be readily comprehended from the detailed description of the accompanying 20 drawing, wherein:

The gure is a vertical sectional view of a refrigerator provided with myinvention.

In the particular exempliiication, my in- Y vention is shown applied to what may teru mined a single type of mechanical refrigerator, namely a refrigerator` provided with a single tier of food holding compartments 5, which may be of any convenient size and of different sizes if desired.l

` The invention, for purposes of illustration, has been shown applied tothe ty e of refrigerator disclosed in Fi re 6 of nited States Letters Patent No. 1,727,713, consisting of the double or suitably insulated mainwalls y10 and the upper part of the refrigerator provided with a well known type of mechanical refrigerating unit at 11 involving iin coils 1 2. The unit 11 is arranged in a compartmentformed by the heavy insulated walls13 forming side and bottom walls; the side wall being arranged in spaced relation with the main wall ofthe refrigerator and terminating a dlstance removed from the top; while the bottom wall is shown sloping downwardly toward one side of the refrigerator and terminates a distance removed from the adjacent side wall of the refrigerator.

Terminating the inner side wall 13 from the top of the refrigerator as shown provides' a passage 14 which establishes communication with the warm air passage yor duct 15 which extends from the bottom of the refrigerator to the top of the refrigerant holding compartment and allows the tempered ,n or warm air to rise fiom the food holding 5555 portion of the refrigerator and to contact with the refrigerating unit. The chilled or cold air in the refrigerant compartment passes down into the cold airduct-16which leads to the bottom ofthe refrigerator.

A baie plate 17 is preferably arranged above the opening between the downwardly sloping bottom of inner wall 13 and the main wall of the refrigerator; while said bottom of the inner wall 13 is shown preferably provided with alip 18 for the purpose of preventing dripping of any condensate into the cold air duct 16.

lith mechanical refrigerat-ing units the copper tubes shownat 19 are usually extended downwardly toward the bottom of the refrigerator. As the refrigerating unit forms no part of my invention a more detailed showing and description of its construction need not be entered into, as any suitable type of unit may be employed. Y

The refrigerator, beneath. the refrigerant unit holding compartment, is provided with a series of independent food holding compartments 5, preferably extending from front to rear and formed by the walls 20 and 21 of sheet metal or other suitable temperature conducting material and arranged in spaced relation with the main `side walls 10 of the refrigerator so as to provide the cold-air duct 16 and on the opposite side the warm air duct 15. The inner side walls 2O and 21 are formed to support imperforate or solid plate shelves or trays 22, which may be permanently or removably secured in place and arranged in sired size of food holding compartment 5.

IThe inner side walls 20 and 21 preferably terminate above themai'n bottom of the refrigerator so as to leave the passage 23 for circulation of lcold air beneath the lowermost food holding compartment 5 and to establish communication between the cold air duct 16 and the warm air duct 15.

vertical distances apart to provide any dearate and non-communicating food holding compartments are provided; that is to say,

separate chilling chambers for the food articles are provided.

The side Walls 20 and 21 at points immediately beneath the bottom inner wall '13\and the respective bottoms 22 of the food compartments 5, in the particularexemplication in the drawing are formed with the upwardly and outwardly bent portions 24,

different Ywhich may be adjustably or permanently held in place by set-screws as at 25. These portions or lips 24 may either be integral parts of the walls 2O and 21 or may be hingedmg the molsture 1n eachcompartment so that ly connected thereto.

With the solid side Walls 20 and 21 and the solid compartment bottoms 22 itis apparent that transverse flow of the cold air is-induced by the cold air from duct 16 entering the openings formed by the lips `24 in wall 20,

while the tempered or warm air passes` out through the opening formed by the lips 24 in the side wall 21.

It -then passes into warm air'dluct 15 from whence itrises toward the top of the refrigerator, passing through passage 14 into the -refrigerating unit compartment where it is chilled and flows down into cold air duct 16.

One of the diiiiculties encountered with mechanical refrigerators as at present employed is the fact that the food articles placed therein losetheir original moisture and to a certain degree the naturalilavor. That is to say, the food becomes dehydrated and the moisture taken from the ifood accumulates as frost on the cooling coils, necessitating defrosting of the refrigerating unit.

In order to overcome this serious objection, I provide a cover member 26 for each food holding compartment 5.

The cover members 26 each consists of a solid or imperforate metal sheet, or other suitable temperature conducting material. These cover sheets 26 extend from front to rear of the refrigerator and inner side wall 20 to inner side wall 21 to which they may be either lpermanently or slidably secured.

In the particular exempliiication, the cover members 26 are shown slidably held in place frequent food holding compartment without direct contact with the food articles. v

With Vmy improvement, separate closed food holding compartments are provided and the food in one-compartment will not contaminate the food in the other compartments because escape of moisture is prevented by the substantially air-tight arrangement and the circulating air in the refrigerator is not permitted to come into contact with the food. As a result, themoisture will not be taken from the food articles and placed as a frost on the cooling coils. The defrosting operations at. present required with mechanical refrigerators are not only practically eliminated or eatly reduced, but the desidera-tum of'leavto a refrigerator having a single tier of food holding compartments, itis a parentthat the invention is equally adapta le to refrigerators provided with a'number of tiers of compartments and that certain modifications may be made without, however, departing from I 'the spirit of my invention.

What I claim is:

In a refrigerator of the character described, the combination of a refrigerating unit holding compartment in the top, inner vertical walls of temperature conductingmaterial beneath said compartmentarranged in spaced relation with the main side walls of the refrigerator and extending from front to rear of the refrigerator to provide a cold air duct and a warm air duct at opposite sides of the refrigerator, food holding compartments having imperforate bottoms disposed between said vertical walls, and regulable openings in the vertical walls communicating with Athe upper ends of the food holding compartments, with imperforate cover sheets for each food holding compartment secured to said vertical walls beneath the regulable openings and extending throughout lthe width and depth of the food holding com artments.

. f WALTER C.

Y by opposing and spaced apart angle members 27 thus permitting the cover members to be slid forwardly through the door of the refrigerator when occasion may require.

The supporting members 27 are arranged i on the inner side walls 20 and 21 adjacent to the bottomsof the outwardly flared lips 24, so that when the cover members 26j are in lace air passages 28 across the top of each ood holding compartment is provided, through which the cold air will pass from the cold` air duct 16to the warm air duct 15. That is to say, with my invention the cold air is made to pass along lthe four sides of each 

